Hi Bob,

This is a really good post, and I thought I would add in some of my own feedback. Since I have dialed in your basic studio settings to my working template in Sonar, which I call the "Bob Buford Board", you know I study you man!

I would go one step further to say I prefer BIAB and my home studio to "real" studios in many cases, and I have recorded in some of the largest studios in Nashville and New York.

1.) I too am always mystified when people make disparaging remarks and say "it is not any good (or real music) unless you record it all yourself."

Then I listen to THEIR stuff and think (but don't say) "Ugh...but your guitar is out of tune, you can't play, it sounds horrible, and the bass player sounds intoxicated. How much did you spend on that??" (I never say it though.)

2.) And yes, so much much done today is loops and samples. But those loops and samples are pretty much obnoxious noise. BIAB does not produce noise it produces MUSIC. So the reason for NOT using it is.....????

3.) Related to the comments of the esteemed producer you mention, I spend some time each day studying the demos, which offer an endless fount of production ideas and chord progression ideas.

4.) It will take any producer about five seconds to realize you are not constrained to one style, but if you have a DAW (or know all the ropes in BIAB well) you can start a song in one style and switch numerous times during the course of a song. That's Abbey Road.

5.) If I were to have gone into any studio to produce some of the stuff I have done with Real Tracks, if you add in the orchestral and string parts, it would have been more like $20,000 a song.

6.) I could go to Berklee and pay $30,000 for a production and editing course or I could just go on this forum and give a shout out to guys like...hmmmmmm...Bob Buford!!! (or 40 other guys and gals just like him)----and ask him what EQ settings to use on the drums and I have my answer back in 20 minutes. I say go for the zero dollar self study course on the forum with 24/7 access to pros and veterans. Easier on my wallet.

7.) I can't count the number of times someone has asked me (of a RT based song) "What studio did you record that in?"

8.) The Xtra styles come almost premixed. If you realize less is really more, the Xtra Styles sort of tell you where stuff should be set and if you are careful with tasty additions only, and you have a good knowledge of Eqing and mastering (which you can learn from veterans on this forum) there really is no reason to go into a studio for many songs. It just is not necessary.

9.) In complaining of the glut of music today you hear this all the time: "Everybody and his sister has ProTools." True, but everybody and his sister does not have ProTools and RealTracks. That may be one reason why so much of everything you hear sounds exactly the same. Very boring chord progressions and beginning acoustic or electric guitar 101 keeps getting replicated. RTs take your music to another stratosphere.

10.) Some people have said on this forum that if you use RTs and your home studio you will never be able to get the quality of a "real studio" or a "real engineer." I cannot tell you how much I disagree.

In many cases, I honestly think the RT studio sounds better.

Thanks for a great article Bob and all the great teaching on this forum.

David Snyder
Songwriter/Renaissance Man
Studio + Fingers

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